The Chico High girls soccer team, banged up physically and drained emotionally from a hard-fought one-goal victory over Eastern Athletic League nemesis Shasta earlier this week, found plenty of solace Thursday afternoon in a nonleague matchup against Yuba City.

Because the visiting Honkers have a key Metro League game with playoff implications today, they opted to limit the playing time of starters against the Panthers, who capitalized for a 3-1 victory that also allowed them to not worry about the absence of several injured key players.

In fact, it was goals by first-time starter Sarah Carroll and out-of-position defender Nathalie Cuellar that ended up making the difference in a contest Panthers coach Pam Jackson had some concerns about coming in.

“It was a tough turnaround from the Shasta win,” Jackson said. “We looked a little lethargic during warmups and then in the first half, but with these girls it”s never OK not to win. Their ultimate goal every time is to get the win no matter what circumstances they”re up against.”

That was a stark contrast to the approach of Yuba City coach Matt Nelson. Around the midway point of both the first and second half, he subbed in a group of junior varsity players for his regulars.

Still, the Honkers, despite giving up Carroll”s score 45 seconds after the opening kickoff, battled to remain tied 1-1 at halftime before Chico forward Kaia Kehoe netted a goal from a yard inside the penalty box in the first minute of the second half and Cuellar added another by heading home a dead-on pass from midfielder Kayla Naron on a corner kick in the 67th minute.

“(Chico) outscored us 2-1 with our starters in the game, so you can”t take anything away from them,” Nelson said. “They”re a good team. (Naron) is big, strong and fast and they have a lot of players who strike the ball well inside the penalty box.”

The Panthers (14-2) ended up with a 15-4 advantage in total shots and were never threatened by the Honkers offensively in the second half. Seemingly every time Yuba City attempted to move upfield in transition, Chico”s back line of Cuellar, Kristina Brown, Anna Anderson and Laura Gaffney swiftly cut short the surge before it could even reach midfield with aggressive defending.

It was especially impressive for such a patchwork group. Cuellar was playing just her second game after moving back from midfield to help fill voids left by injuries while Anderson, a sophomore, and Gaffney, a freshman, were also forced to help out in a pinch.

“They were great out there,” Cuellar said of the underclassmen. “That”s the kind of the vibe we have with our team — we always have someone ready to step up if someone else can”t go.”

Even with such a young group, the Panthers appear well on their way to another EAL Cup championship. Jackson said many around the league figured a talented and experienced Shasta group had a solid chance to dethrone her team, but Tuesday”s close 1-0 win and a 4-0 rout of the Wolves in March have put Chico in the driver”s seat to run away with at least the regular season title.

Only adding to the Panthers” optimism is the surprise emergence of Carroll, who didn”t have to wait a minute into her first action of the season to score off a shot from the top of the penalty box to give her team the 1-0 lead.

“I wasn”t expecting that at all,” she said. “I was still pretty nervous about playing after that.”

Less than a minute later, Yuba City (11-4-1) received the equalizer when Jess Yahn headed in Caitlin Tull”s pass off a corner kick.

“That was a slap in our face,” Cuellar said. “I think we were all pretty sore and tired from Tuesday, but there was no excuse for that. You just have to get over it.”